The film's complex and nonlinear narrative chiefly centers around the journey of a blind dervish, Bab'Aziz (Parviz Shahinkhou), and his granddaughter, Ishtar (Maryam Hamid), who — while traveling across the desert towards an immense Sufi gathering — encounter several strangers who relate the stories of their own mysterious and spiritual quests.
[1] The three films share structural elements and themes drawn from Islamic mysticism and classical culture, as well as an isolated desert setting.
[3] Boston Globe critic Michael Hardy found fault with Khemir's "well-meaning attempt to correct Western misconceptions of Islam", complaining that the film "is set in the present, but resolutely ignores current events in favor of pervasive nostalgia for the glorious past".
[4] However, Matt Zoller Seitz of The New York Times praised it as "a structurally audacious fairy tale that imparts moral lessons and shows how narratives reflect and shape life".
[5] According to The Hollywood reporter reviewer Frank Scheck " What 'Bab' Aziz' lacks in narrative clarity it makes up for in visual and musical splendor, and the fact that its co-screenwriter is Tonino Guerra".